Title 44 Correction: Sales Program NEVER subsidized depository program

In my last installment of Nonlawyer’s Journey through Title 44, I stated:

“In an age of paper, the Sales Program helped provide some of the funding needed to make publications freely available to the public through Federal Depository Libraries.”

I was wrong about this. Thankfully Superintendent of Documents Judy Russell caught wind of this entry and sent me the comment below:

—– Original Message —–
From: “Russell, Judith C. (SuDoc)”
To: “‘Discussion of Government Document Issues'”
Cc:
Sent: Tuesday, July 25, 2006 5:05 AM
Subject: RE: New Discussions at FGI: July 24, 2006

In his most recent analysis of Title 44, Dan Cornwall states: “In an age of paper, the Sales Program helped provide some of the funding needed to make publications freely available to the public through Federal Depository Libraries.”

The GPO Sales Program is by statute a self-sustaining program. Revenue from the Sales Program has never been used to fund the Federal Depository Library Program (FDLP), which receives its funding from annual Congressional appropriations.

By providing a means for individuals and organizations to purchase copies of Federal government publications, the GPO Sales Program complements free public access through tangible depository collections and free online access. It will continue to serve the public by providing an alternative to using tangible Federal publications in libraries or downloading/printing copies from the Internet.

Judy Russell

Judith C. Russell (jrussell@gpo.gov)
Managing Director, Information Dissemination (Superintendent of Documents)
U.S. Government Printing Office
Phone: 202-512-0571
Fax: 202-512-1434

Judy also made a comment on the mistaken entry which I’ve now incorporated into my commentary as an update. I do regret the error and hope others will be as willing and quick as Judy to correct mistakes as they come up.

Thanks Judy!

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